CREATION

On 20 September 1880, a small group of miners met at John Jones's cabin near Mud Spring in western Beaver County, Utah, to organize the Granite Mining District. They organized this district according to established custom and federal law which allows individuals to claim mineral wealth in the public domain (Statutes at Large, Treaties, and proclamations, of the United States of America, 1872, vol. 17, chap. 152). In the nineteenth century, miners in local areas organized mining districts to manage mining operations and keep records of claims. A Granite District recorder entered claims for about six years, making the last record on the first day of January 1887. It is assumed that the district ceased to operate at that time. In 1897 the Utah Legislature enacted a mining law which transferred responsibility for keeping mining records to county recorders (Laws of Utah, 1897, chapter 36).

FUNCTIONS

Federal regulation allowed claims to be 1500 feet along a lode with 300 feet on each side. In order to maintain a claim, miners were required to do at least $100 worth of work on the claim annually. Local districts could impose additional requirements as long as they were not in conflict with federal law. Granite District by-laws specified that each location should be marked at the site with monuments or stakes. Location monuments were to include a notice giving locators' names, location date, and the number of feet claimed. Claims were to be recorded by the district recorder within 30 days of discovery. Granite District by-laws specified that during the first year, sinking a ten foot shaft qualified as $100 worth of labor. In each succeeding year the shaft was to be extended by 12 feet.

ADMINISTRATION

Miners in the Granite District elected John Ward Christian as district recorder and commissioned him to keep a true and correct record in a suitable book and to create an index for the same. By-laws authorized him to collect a fee for each claim recorded.

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

Granite Mining District by-laws authorized the district recorder to appoint deputies to assist him in carrying out his responsibilities. Apparently, the Granite District functioned for only about six years. In 1897 the Utah Legislature enacted a mining law which transferred responsibility for keeping mining records to county recorders. (Laws of Utah, 1897, chapter 36). At that time the records of the Granite District were deposited in the Beaver County recorder's office.